2017 Endeavor Games

It’s been over a week since the Endeavor Games took place in Edmund Oklahoma. For those who don’t know, Endeavor Games are competitions for athletes of all ages with physical disabilities. These games are great opportunities to display their talents in a proper and competitive setting against all individuals with similar disabilities.

This year, Knit-Rite was a sponsor for the Endeavor Games, and maintained a booth to display our products. We introduced a few of our items to athletes who were competing as well as their parents and friends.

Introducing our products, such as prosthetic Soft Socks, to parents of young amputee athletes was satisfying, because I witnessed them recognizing that we are able to meet their child’s needs. We also had a few parents and kids who recognized our products and were thanking Knit-Rite for our high quality socks. It is always rewarding to work for a company that makes quality products and hearing it from others.

In addition to being a representative for Knit-Rite, I also got a chance to be one of the athletes at the games. I participated in 100m, 200m and 400m sprints and table tennis. The past year and a half, I‘ve been running long distance races (5k and more) with non-adaptive athletes. I am used to being a curiosity for other runners and as a result, I am often starred at, which is a natural human instinct. Since the Endeavor Games focuses on athletes with various physical disabilities, I was honored to complete with athletes just like me. It was awesome! I didn’t feel like I was judged or looked at all the time because we all had differences. There were no questions or staring. Instead, there was a competition and lots of love and support.

A few of my favorite things at the Endeavor Games were seeing a 2-year-old girl sprinting a 60m race on her tiny little prosthetic leg and an older gentleman sprinting his first race since he lost his limb. It’s overwhelming yet very rewarding. We take things for granted every single day. Those athletes didn’t have an excuse to complain, instead they had an excuse to show others why they wanted to compete.

I finished the week with some table tennis game. This was a fun addition to my experience at the Endeavor Games because it was a little bit of nostalgia. I used play this sport competitively back home in Belarus as a child. The experience showed me that I was able to pick up my childhood skills that I developed along the way and use them for fun and competitions in the games. The best part was making new friends and new memories.

It was a wonderful event full of positivity, hugs, smiles, encouragement and no judgment! It was an honor to be there as Knit-Rite’s representative and introduce our amazing products to everyone. It was also a pleasure to be there as an athlete and compete against those who are on the same level as me. I can’t wait to go back next year and make new memories, meet new friends, compete and introduce even more people to Knit-Rite. See you next year at the Endeavor Games!